Winning the World

Session 6: Mobilizing American Cities for Church Planting Movements 105

a. Alienation: husbands from wives, parents from children, families from neighbors, neighbors from community

b. 70% born out of wedlock

c. Vast majority of prison populations of America from urban poor communities

d. Jurisprudential involvement as a way of life: Few urban families are not affected by the police, the courts, and the prison system.

D. Implications and conclusions

1. The US urban poor field is one of the largest, toughest, and most reachable fields on earth: They do not align or compare to many other urban fields.

2. Extreme difficulties posed by diversity, violence, shattered families, and spiritual alienation make American cities formidable and intimidating.

3. Church planting movements targeted to reaching the world’s lost must seriously take advantage of the challenges represented by the American urban poor.